


In the Lap of the Gods

by Rose_of_Pollux



Series: Inktober for Writers, 2019 [21]
Category: Perfect Strangers
Genre: Gen, guest appearance by Lady Palutena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 19:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21124241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_of_Pollux/pseuds/Rose_of_Pollux
Summary: [Post-series] In which, while on assignment in Athens, Larry gets separated from the others and meets a woman who claims to be the Goddess Athena.





	In the Lap of the Gods

**Author's Note:**

> This vignette was inspired by today’s Inktober prompt (“treasure”) and takes place post-series; it also takes place directly before Day #9’s entry (“Wrong Place at the Wrong Time”) from earlier in this Inktober collection, as I’d briefly mentioned the squad traveling to Athens for Larry to get a story on the uncovering of a previously undiscovered temple to Athena. And I have another reference to Season 3's "The Horn Blows at Midnight" again, since I love that episode so much...
> 
> My portrayal of Athena in this vignette is meant to be Palutena from the Kid Icarus/Super Smash Bros series, and the artifacts that she shows off to Larry are meant to be the Three Sacred Treasures; I try to have all of my fics across different fandoms in a shared timeline.

The discovery of the previously unrecorded temple to Athena Parthenos had garnered a lot of attention indeed. Athens was a veritable maze of people trying to get a look at the uncovered ruins and see if they could uncover some possibly hidden treasures. Jennifer and Mary Anne took one look at the crowd and opted to stay at the hotel with Tucker and Robespierre.

Larry’s press badge had gotten him farther than most of the crowd, with Balki sticking close to him as his interpreter. Still, it wasn’t long before parts of the crowd managed to get past the barriers and into the restricted areas. Larry and Balki found themselves separated by the mad tide of people, and in his attempts to fight against the crowd and find his cousin, Larry found himself further jostled by the swarm of people.

It only ended after Larry, pressed up against one of the temple walls, suddenly felt the wall move. The portion of the wall he was pressed up against spun 180 degrees, depositing him in a dark tunnel. And a search with a flashlight offered no way to activate the wall into spinning him back to the outside.

“Ohhh, no…” he murmured, in the verge of panic. “Oh no, oh no, oh no…” He frantically hammered on the stone wall with his palm. “Balki!? Anyone!? I’m trapped behind the wall!”

The crowd would be too noisy for anyone to hear him, he realized. He would have to take his chances and follow the tunnel, hoping that it would lead to a way out and not into an ancient trap.

He barely paid attention to the carvings and ancient writing on the tunnel walls—the only thing that got his attention was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Larry broke into a run, eager to find a way out, but the tunnel didn’t lead to the outside; he found himself in a room made completely of marble, the light coming from lit torch brackets on the walls. There was a small reflective pool of crystal-clear water in the center of the room that had a large marble column rising from it, and, sitting on the edge of the pool, looking at Larry in curiosity, was a woman in very odd clothes—her dress seemed like something from ancient times, like Larry had seen in carvings and statues, and her hair was bedecked with ornaments and jewelry. And a staff rested in one hand, with a shield in the other.

“Ah, excuse me,” Larry said. “I’m not sure who you are or how you got here—but if you know the way out, I’d appreciate you telling me.”

“Certainly, I know the way out,” she said, with a gentle smile. “This temple was built for me.”

Larry blinked.

“…This temple was built for Athena Parthenos,” he said.

“Yes, that’s one of my names,” she said. “I have had many over the centuries—Athena, Minerva, Parthena, Pallas Athena, Palutena…”

“…You know what? On second thoughts, I think I’ll just try to find the way out myself. Sorry to bother you,” Larry said, moving to make a hasty retreat as he presumed the woman to be out of her mind—why else would she claim to be an ancient Goddess!?

He turned, contemplating going back through the tunnel when she spoke again—

“I really _can_ point you towards the quickest way out, Lawrence.”

He turned back, momentarily wondering how on Earth she could’ve known his name—until he realized she must have seen it on his press badge.

“Oh, that’s good. That’s really good. You really had me going there for a moment,” Larry said. “But I really have to get out of here before my family starts worrying about my disappearance.”

“That isn’t the way out, Lawrence; that tunnel only goes one way—in,” the woman chided, as Larry moved to go back through the tunnel.

He ignored her, and, all of a sudden, Larry walked smack into what felt like a glass wall. Blinking, he saw that a reflective, glass-like material was blocking the way through the tunnel that had not been there only moments before.

He whirled back around, gingerly rubbing his nose and staring as he saw the woman holding her shield up; an unearthly aura surrounded her.

“I told you, you’re going the wrong way!” she chided. She indicated another exit behind her, at the far side of the room. “_That_ is the way out.”

“How… How are you doing that…?” he stammered.

She lowered the shield, and the aura vanished; Larry turned back and waved his hand in front of him, but the barrier had vanished.

“Okay. Okay,” he said, running a hand through his brunet curls as he turned back to face the woman. “That’s _also_ a really great trick—very nice.”

“You truly are a stubborn one, aren’t you, Lawrence?” she asked, amused. “I’m sure Balki would readily believe my identity.”

“Balki would believe almost anything…” He trailed off again and then pointed at her. “Aha, you heard me calling for him back there!”

She responded with a serene smile before speaking again—

“But you didn’t call for Jennifer or Mary Anne—but that makes sense, since they didn’t come to my temple.”

Larry struggled to come up with an explanation for that; even as he did, the woman continued—

“You are Lawrence Appleton—in some ways, a truly ordinary man. You are the modern equivalent of a scribe, seeking to have your words read by others. Yet, you also yearn for comforts of wealth and luxury.”

“…Doesn’t everyone?” Larry defended.

“But in other ways, you are quite extraordinary,” she continued. “By all accounts, you should not even be standing here alive—I understand that, six years ago, a seer predicted your demise at the hands of a Reaper. I must tell you, Thanatos was certainly baffled by your escape from that fate—he thought he had you, quite literally, dead to rights…”

Larry had no retort for that; the only ones who knew about Claire Hayden’s prophecy were himself, Balki, Jennifer, and Mary Anne—not even Claire herself had been able to remember what she had said in the trance.

The woman stood up now.

“You came here for a story, but you also came here for treasure, did you not?” she said.

“…Um…”

“Then gaze upon this!” she finished, raising her glowing staff.

The marble column in the middle of the pool suddenly opened up to reveal that it was hollow—and levitating inside of it was a suit of ancient, winged armor that looked as though it was lined with gold, a reflective shield also edged with gold, and a golden-edged bow with a quiver of brightly gleaming arrows.

“…_Oh, my Lord_…!” Larry sputtered, his eyes wide.

“I am willing to give all this to you—all I ask a small personal token in exchange,” she said.

“Name it!” Larry exclaimed.

“Hmm, let’s see… Gold for gold? That ring on your left hand?”

Larry’s face fell as he glanced at the ring she was talking about.

“Wha…? But… This is my wedding ring!” he protested. “I haven’t taken it off since Jennifer put it on me…!”

“Hmm, perhaps that _is_ asking too much…” she admitted. “Very well, how about that watch on your wrist? Or that silver tie clasp?”

Larry glanced at the watch and the tie clasp.

“Well… Well… It sounds like a great deal but…” He sighed, wincing. “Balki gave me the tie clasp and Mary Anne gave me the watch. They didn’t even have a special occasion for it, either….”

“Very well; let’s see…” she mused. “Ah, surely you don’t mind parting with that handkerchief in your chest pocket—the one with the tassel tied to it? It looks like a child scribbled on it!”

“…That’s exactly what it is,” Larry said, placing his hand on the handkerchief. “My son got ahold of a Sharpie, and… improved on it, I guess. …The tassel was from Balki and Mary Anne’s son.”

“…So that’s a ‘no,’ as well?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Larry sighed. “I bought the cufflinks myself—I don’t suppose you want those?” He wasn’t surprised when she shook her head. “Yeah. Yeah, I thought as much.” He glanced, wistfully, at the treasures in the marble column. “…You really _are_ Athena Parthenos,” he realized.

“What makes you say that?”

“The Goddess of Wisdom and Light?” Larry said. He indicated the treasures in the column. “I realize the point you were trying to make.”

She smiled again, the column closing back around the treasures as she lowered her staff.

“Then I’m glad you realized it,” she said. “You are loved, Lawrence—so very loved. There is nothing wrong with chasing fortune as long as you never forget that, for you will never find treasures as fulfilling as the ones you carry with you now.”

Larry nodded, slightly overcome.

“I, um… I need to get back to them…”

She waved her staff again, creating a door next to Larry.

“Then go to them,” she encouraged.

He didn’t question how she had made the door; after only a moment’s hesitation, he went through it, suddenly stumbling as he ended up instantly outside the temple walls, nearly crashing into Balki, who was trying to explain what had happened to Jennifer and Mary Anne, who had arrived with the children.

“Cousin Larry!” he exclaimed, hugging him in relief.

“Oh, Larry, are you alright!?” Jennifer asked, placing her free hand on the side of his face.

“Balki called and said you got separated from him in the crowd; we didn’t know where you’d ended up, so we came over here hoping to find some sort of clue as to where you went,” Mary Anne said.

“I’m okay,” he promised them. “But am I ever glad to see you all again…”

He hugged Balki back, and then Mary Anne and Robespierre, before kissing Jennifer and taking Tucker in his arms. Tucker, happy to see his father again, babbled in baby language, apparently telling him about his day.

Larry listened intently, only pausing to turn to the others and silently nod in the direction of the hotel.

“Cousin, are you sure?” Balki asked, knowing that Larry probably hadn’t had much time to talk to the excavation team yet.

Larry responded with a nod; there’d be plenty of time for interviewing later—perhaps after the crowd dissipated.

For now, he would take Athena’s advice and appreciate what he had.


End file.
